The wacky misadventures of the SF->Google/south-bay bike commuter gang

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

The view was worth the climb

Brief ride report:

5 of us braved the park and met at JBC for hot coffee and tasty pastries. Rolled almost on time at 0638. We briefly lost Chris Z who scurried back to fetch his credit card off the cafe table.

Together again we headed south and a reasonable pace. FF Bump three of us watched Brooks and Zap ride OTF while in conversation...

Skyline drive was uneventful and we had none of the visibility issues Murph had on his last ride of that route. After cresting Brooks and I headed to Pacifica while Chris Z, Jason and Mike stuck to the plan Standard + Portola (bummer for them).

Fassler both sucked and was awesome (in that 13-14% grade kind of way), but with two lanes, then one with a big shoulder, I never felt in danger (unlike Manor). The road part was over faster than expected and the dirt part (Banquiano) was well worth it. This was a totally navigable (due to tips from Yoyo and Ammon) on a road bike with 23c's and compact gearing (34-27 for me, 36-36 for strongman Brooks, though he had knobbies).

The view from the top was spectacular (see attached, with crappy iPhone camera).

I hit standard Skyline at about 8 (this added 45 minutes to the ride) and headed for work via unconventional route, Brooks headed back to the City.